A chronological exploration of literary or film milestones in geek culture from 1964 on. Excuse the ADHD as I discuss other things as well.

2015: Star Wars – My Interest Awakens

Less than 24 hours to go until Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I couldn’t be more excited. I have my ticket for the 7:00 showing, the earliest I could get, and I am counting down the hours, minutes, and parsecs to go. That makes sense, right?

To prep, I gave the Machette Order a try. For those not in the know, it goes episodes 4-5 establishing Luke, Leia, and Han, 2-3 establishing Vader, Palpatine and The Empire, and then 6 to finish it all off. The Machette refers to the cutting of episode 1, which does have its advantages, namely Qui Gon and Darth Maul, but I find much of hit difficult to watch. I find Episode 2 slow to excite me, but Episode 3 is a fantastic film, worthy of the original trilogy.

I’ve also been reading the new Marvel series (Star Wars, Darth Vader and Leia) and they are awesome. Specifically Jason Aaron’s writing on Star Wars. He really captures what makes the characters great and makes you believe that what you are reading is how the actors would have portrayed them. And Salvador Larroca’s art on Darth Vader is visually magnificent. Darth Vader looks as deadly as ever. Tomorrow, I read Shattered Empire to connect Episode 6 and The Force Awakens.

The Star Wars comics are something I’ve mostly steered clear of. Except for what I blogged about for previous Star Wars posts, I’ve always avoided them. Partly because I feel like most of them are not about the characters I love, and because I didn’t know where to start. There is so much, and I already have enough on my plate with marvel and DC. But now I’ve started to read a few of the Epic collections Marvel had been putting out, and it’s less intimidating and more exciting than I had previously viewed it.

I have not been this excited about Star Wars since I first delved into it when Episode One came out. I haven’t even watched episodes 2 and 3 together since 3 came out on DVD. But I was a boy then, and now am a man. I view things much different and am able to watch things through different eyes. I appreciate things I was never able to before, but also dislike things I used to get excited about. How age changes us. I wonder how people view episode 4 now who watched it in 77.

But, as excited as I am getting, I am partly dissapointment that Vader, in my opinion the best character of the franchise (and, along Dracula and The Joker, the most iconic villain of all time), will, most probably, not be a part of this new film. But it’s always great to see Harrison Ford, as well as Mark Hamill, who is also winning me over in his over the top portrayal as the Trickster in The Flash (still not as good as his definitive take as The Joker in Batman the Animated Series though).

And still there is more that I’m just getting warmed up for, namely the TV shows. After watching the force awakens, I intent to watch Episode 1, and continue with as much content as I can do in chronological order before The Force Awakens comes out on DVD.

It’s been a long time since I wrote a post and this is about a third the reason why. Christmas shopping, trying to write, and life in general also get in the way too. When January comes around, I really do hope to get back on track, although I have big plans and a big art piece for 1984 coming that is going to be a large undertaking.

Thanks for reading. I hope you all get a chance to see Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens soon. May the Force be with you, always.